UN Secretary- General, António Guterres on Sunday called for a pause in fighting to allow civilians to escape conflict zones in Ukraine as the UN rights body (OHCHR) announced it had recorded 1,123 civilian casualties since the beginning of Russia’s armed attack on the country.
The UN secretary-general, in a Tweet, declared that it is absolutely essential to establish a pause in the fighting that continues unabated in Ukraine, to allow for the safe passage of civilians from all conflict zones.
“Also, to ensure that life-saving humanitarian aid, such as the UN supplies that began arriving on Saturday, can move in to help those who remain,’’ he said.
Guterres singled out the cities of Mariupol, Kharkiv and Sumy as examples of hotspots where civilians are at particular risk.
Attempts to allow some 200,000 civilians to safely leave Mariupol continue to be thwarted, with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reporting “devastating scenes of human suffering” in the city.
The ICRC reported on Sunday that, whilst their teams remain on standby to help with the evacuation, they need security guarantees in order to operate.
